The Republic of Poland (until December 1989 the Polish People's Republic) is situated in Eastern Europe, bounded to the north by the Baltic Sea and an enclave of Russia, to the north-east by Lithuania, to the east by Belarus, to the south-east by Ukraine, to the west by Germany and to the south by Slovakia and Czech. Poland is one of the larger countries in Europe. The climate is temperate in the west but continental in the east. Poland has short summers and cold snowy winters. The official language is Polish, spoken by almost all of the population. The national flag has two equal horizontal stripes, of white and red. The capital is Warsaw.

Situated in the heartland of Europe, Poland has been both a bridge and a front line between eastern and western Europe. Today, free from outside interference, Poland is the place to go if you're interested in seeing how a nation picks itself up off the floor and tries to reinvent itself. It's a multifaceted country where the capital and medieval old towns are coddled by contemporary city slickers and where horse-drawn carts negotiate country lanes in areas where the 20th century appears to have got lost somewhere down the road.